About UVic

UVic is Canada's most extraordinary environment for discovery and innovation.

The University of Victoria offers innovative programs for more than 20,000 students. Dynamic, hands-on learning, research that makes a vital impact, and discovery and innovation in Canada’s most extraordinary academic environment provide an Edge that can’t be found anywhere else. Learn more about the UVic Edge.

A top-ranked Canadian university

In early 2013, UVic was ranked number 20 globally and first in Canada among universities less than 50 years old by Times Higher Education (THE). It also ranks in THE's elite global list of the top 200 universities, which includes approximately one per cent of the world's best institutions. Learn more about our rankings.

Community involvement

Beyond the classroom, UVic is part of the community. With civic engagement a key part of our mission, our faculty, students and staff collaborate with a diverse range of community partners in Canada and abroad on essential issues that matter to people, places and the planet.

President's message

Our university is a national and international leader in many areas of critical research and creative endeavour, and our faculty are committed and inspiring teachers. We offer our students a research-enriched education that is complemented by applied, clinical and work-integrated learning opportunities, making it among the best in the world.

The University of Victoria is proud and grateful to benefit from significant support in the form of public funding, student tuition and private contributions.

We hold ourselves to the highest standards of stewardship of these resources and our audited financial statements are publicly available.

To ensure programming of the highest quality for our students, our faculty are evaluated annually, through students' teaching evaluations as well as by their department chair and dean. Departments are also subject to vigorous external review every five to seven years.

In addition, there are many ways in which the university provides a public accounting of its accomplishments and progress in fulfilling its mission.

In a world in which the most challenging problems are shared, co-operative international solutions are required. The University of Victoria has both a role and a responsibility to respond and take action.

The 2012 UVic Strategic Plan, A Vision for the Future: Building on Excellence, calls for the establishment of a formal framework to manage the university's physical and financial resources in a sustainable manner; that is, with attention paid to the "triple bottom line" of economic, social, and environmental consequences.

Sustainability website

The sustainability site is the digital hub for sustainability on the University of Victoria campus. We invite you to explore our green initiatives on the ground, in the classroom, and in our research activities. Connect with student groups, learn tips to reduce your impact and find out how you can get involved.

Times Higher Education

The 2014 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings place UVic on its elite Top 200 list, among the top one per cent of universities around the world. Ranked at #173 globally, UVic has been the top-ranked university in Canada without a medical school since 2010.

Only eight Canadian universities were ranked in the Top 200. In early 2013, THE also ranked UVic first in Canada and number 20 globally among universities less than 50 years old.

The THE global ranking is the only system that includes a section dedicated to the teaching and learning environment, including the first-ever global survey of institutions' teaching reputation.

Maclean's

Once again, the University of Victoria has been ranked among the top Canadian comprehensive universities by Maclean's magazine.

This is the eighth consecutive year that UVic has been ranked either first or second in this category. In a strong showing across the board, UVic racked up top-three finishes in eight of the 12 key performance indicators used by Maclean's for its 2015 rankings.

The comprehensive category comprises the 15 Canadian universities that combine a significant amount of research activity with a wide range of programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, including professional degrees.

Re$earch Infosource

In 2014, for the 12th consecutive year, UVic was named a Research University of the Year in Canada by Re$earch Infosource. This designation indicates that UVic "demonstrates superior achievement in earning research income and in publishing research in leading scientific journals."

In the current Re$earch Infosource decade-in-review summary of Canada's research universities, UVic outscored all other comprehensive universities in two out of three measures of research performance from 1999-2009.

Leiden University rankings

UVic is a major hub for global research—and the data proves it. The 2014 Leiden University rankings put UVic ahead of all other Canadian universities in the proportion of internationally co-authored research, based on scientific publications issued from 2009-2012.

UVic also retains its place in the top one per cent of universities in the world and among the top-ranked in Canada for scientific impact.

QS World University Rankings

The 2014 QS World University Rankings by Subject also recognize UVic's leadership in a broad mix of academic fields. UVic is identified in the top 200 institutions globally for research in six QS subject areas: English language and literature, earth and marine sciences, geography, law, physics and astronomy, and psychology.

The QS subject ranking studied nearly 3,000 of the world's top universities—approximately 15 per cent of all institutions—and ranked fewer than 700 of them for statistically significant subject-specific leadership.

The QS rankings also suggest that UVic's rising international reputation stems from extraordinary programs across the institution. The Department of English ranked in the top 100. In total, the university is ranked for world-class performance in 22 of 30 subject areas.

Globe and Mail

In the 2013 Globe and Mail's "Canadian University Report" on undergraduate student satisfaction with their university experience, students ranked the University of Victoria highly for its facilities, commitment to sustainability, campus atmosphere and libraries.

The university received an overall B+ for student satisfaction. UVic received an A for its buildings and facilities; an A- for libraries, environmental commitment, campus atmosphere and city satisfaction; and a B+ for quality of teaching and learning, class size, student/faculty interaction, recreation and athletics, information technology, career preparation, co-op/internships and reputation with employers.